1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to additives for fuels and lubricants. More particularly it concerns additives made by first reacting an olefin or halogenated olefin with an .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated nitrile to form an organonitrile intermediate which is then further reacted with an amine or polyamine. This invention also relates to lubricant and liquid fuel compositions containing a minor but effective amount of these additives.
The use of additives in petroleum products such as fuels and lubricants to improve one or more performance characteristics is well known. Such characteristics as anti-corrosivity, detergency, dispersancy, oxidation resistance, load carrying capacity and the like are improved by the use of additives. Due to the increasing of severity of engine operation, the ever present desire to obtain more economical and efficient products and the emerging ecological considerations, there is a continuing and ever increasing need for improved additives which will impart desirable improved performance characteristics to lubricants and liquid fuels.
In accordance with this invention, a new class of compositions has been found which is useful as additives in the above-mentioned contexts. These products are particularly useful as ashless sludge dispersants and detergents for use in liquid fuels and lubricants which are used in internal combustion engines.
2. Prior Art
Fuel and lubricant additives made by reacting a hydrocarbon-substituted succinic acid-producing compound with an alkylene polyamine and an alkenyl cyanide are known in the prior art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,278,550. Lubricant and fuel additives have also been prepared by grafting a vinylic monomer such as an alkenyl cyanide onto an unsaturated hydrocarbon polymer. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,965,471 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,378,492. In both of these patents, graft polymers containing unreacted nitrile groups are used directly as fuel additives without further modification. In contrast, the organonitrile of the present invention are neither graft polymers nor are they used directly as additives but rather as intermediates for the preparation of additives. It has also been reported that the condensation of alkylene diamines with organonitriles, yields glyoxalidines, J. Chem. Soc., 497 (1947).